Art Behind The Canvas

ART BEHIND THE CANVAS

 

As tall as her, but dark brown, there it stands at the corner of her bedroom, THE ELEGANT EASEL. And at another end, there he is, Mr.Chem. He sits all day in a cage on a soft foam sheet. Mira has no idea how it ended up in her house or rather in her family. She is not the questioning type and even her dad didn’t bother telling her.

“triinnnngg!!” went the fire alarm. Arthur, Mira’s dad had burned the toast again. “Miiraa, it’s getting late already, and the traffic out there is depressing ”, called Arthur. “Coming” answered Mira in a rather put out tone.

After a long journey of five minutes in her dad’s old car, an old Honda city, she reached school. Everyday while entering her school campus, St.Teresa Public School, she would feel, “Can’t I be home schooled?”. What a girl! In 21^st century, a girl with long blonde hair, grey blue eyes and a lovely physique hates school?

Here and there she could spot groups of girls giving her a nasty look while the ‘meek’ ones forced a smile up their sleeves. Natasha’s voice came floating by “You know what!That day I tried to pick up a conversation with that Mira but she just walked past” her gang members echoed, “How rude of her!”

After a day of utter normality, when Mira reached home hunched with loads of homework, she spotted Mr.Chem, playing with a red doll. When she took a closer look, she saw that, there was no red doll and rather Mr.Chem turned red!

“How is that possible” thought Mira. Though she was very bad at science, she knew the basics right. All of a sudden, Mira heard a ‘click’. When she turned towards her right, ‘THUD’ fell the easel. “Oh my god! That was close!” Mira exclaimed.

She rearranged her room and sat on her table to deal with her homework, “a+b-c into a-c+b...
how could a chameleon change shades” Mira thought. The foam sheet on which Mr.Chem slept was a deep yellow ochre.Where did red come from?

 At 7pm, when Arthur came back home from his office, Mira was still left with two more assignments to complete. That’s when the inevitable dinner routine took place. Arthur asked “How was school?” Mira thought, “Am I in kindergarten or was it my first day of school? Won’t parents stop asking the same question day in and day out?”. But, she replied, “Fine.”

On the due course of finishing her homework, Mira entered her paradise. She never got to meet her mum in her dreams. But she met her Nana Josie often in there. She kept on telling Mira to use the easel, but she seldom did. While random thoughts were flitting through her mind and at last when she entered the dauntless darkness, sleep, she felt blissful.

At 6:47am, after 5 snoozes, Mira got up from her bed and rushed through her morning routine. When she was left with packing her bag, there it was, a complete chemistry assignment!She was  this observant kid, who was cent percent sure that she had just started the assignment. She also noticed that the easel’s position had changed and Mr.Chem who would usually be awake, was asleep and now he was all green!

As if her life had been put on a fast forward she entered chemistry class. A day without any obstacles, without grievances and filled with pleasant sights      “ What is going on in my life?” thought Mira as her chemistry teacher was busy correcting their assignments. “Mira Livingston” called the teacher, Mr.Keith. The class went pin drop silent. By the time Mira reached the teacher’s desk, from her seat in the last bench, all eyes were on her. When she reached the teacher’s desk, Mr.Keith announced, “Please give a hearty round of applause to Mira for the amount of effort she has put in to submit this wonderful assignment.”Followed by disheartening claps, Mr.Keith questioned, “Where did you get these facts from?” Mira said, “I ..um..actually..I found it in my Nana’s old book”.“How nice!” replied Mr.Keith. He added, “Would you mind lending it to me Mira?”. Mira was stunned. “Um..Sir, it’s in a rather bad condition. Would you mind if I give it to you after a week? After mending it?” Mira asked timidly. A pleased Mr.Keith replied, “That’s fine. Thank you Mira.”
A science class episode which should have had a dose of scolding, embarrassment, sniggering and suffering ended up with open mouths, gawking people and a deep blush of crimson.

Lying on the bed, rewinding the day’s events, Mira kept staring at the white canvas. A sudden urge pulled her up and instilled the thought in her to make a self portrait. She placed a mirror in front of her and started sketching with some pencils. After  few minutes  she was not conscious enough to observe what she was sketching and rather was immersed in it. When she dropped the pencil by mistake she realised that she had completed the portrait. On noticing she observed that the girl in the portrait or rather the woman in the portrait was not Mira Livingston! She was in her late twenties and looked kind of like Mira. “That’s your mum.” Nana’s voice boomed in her head. A tear swelled up in her eye.

The next day was Arthur’s birthday. Mira thought of presenting the self portrait turned mum’s portrait to him. When Arthur came back from office that day, she shouted, “Happy Birthday dad! I have something for you. Come along”. They entered Mira’s room and she showed him the portrait. Arthur was moved. “Thara...” he choked. “How did you do that?” Mira replied “Um...dad.. I don’t know. I have no idea what’s happening around me. Suddenly Mr.Chem changes colour , my chemistry assignment is done and then I draw mum. I don’t know...um.. It feels like magic.”
“Just a second Mira”,interrupted Arthur. “I have something for you”. He handed her a neat diary with beautiful lettering that said “From Nana Josie”
Mira felt elated (something that was not supposed to be the reaction). Then Arthur said, “The whole world is magical. Life is full of magic and wonderful.....you just have to see it, love you Mira”.

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